


Mint Leaves on a Cold Night

by Mocha_K



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Homecoming Dance, Meet-Cute, Rarepair, This is trash, rarepair hell is real
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 18:07:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15297084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mocha_K/pseuds/Mocha_K
Summary: Maribelle lost her date during the dance, and fumes outside. Donnel is too kind and caring for his own good, and tries to help.





	Mint Leaves on a Cold Night

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this like, forever ago and decided, fuck it, I'm posting it anyway. Barely beta'd, and short. Enjoy, let me know if you want more.

Foul. This mess of a homecoming dance had left a foul taste in Maribelle's mouth. She initially had a pleasant enough date. Gaius turned out to be quite sweet, and not smarmy at all, despite appearances. He pinned the corsage like a pro, opened the car door for her, and tolerated Lissa's *poor* taste in men (Vaike and his ego, which could have taken a car seat all it's own). She grit her teeth at the thought. Now, she was sitting on the steps just outside the school gym, several meters from the blaring music and frenetic, hormonal creatures she had the pleasure to regard as 'peers'. A tiny voice in the back of her mind reminded her that she was hardly any different, but the voice was quelled beneath the undercurrent of rage that bellied Maribelle. She was more than content to fume outside, thank you very much.

 

However, the soft clicks of dress shoes penetrate the heavy music, approaching Maribelle gently. "I reckon you ain't havin' much fun out here, miss." The strange venacular of the stranger was enough to force Maribelle to wheel around. A boy -in what barely deserved to be called a 'suit and tie'- stared pointedly across the street. A little lanky, he was hardly striking in any *positive* aspects. Instead, he sported a tin pot over his head. Maribelle couldn't even find any contempt for the pot; it was so terribly misplaced. The boy was surely raised in a barn. Or, loathe as she was to consider it, he was very, very high.

 

"Your wearing a pot. On your head." She asked, standing up. She brushed her dress off, diligently ignoring the inevitible creases and the painstaking process of dress shopping that had been completely for naut. Not that *she* was mad or anything. "Is this a euphemism of some sort?"

 

"Uh... uphemism?" The word sounded like an unknown substance on his tongue. "It's just a pot, promise." He pulled it off his head, turning it his hands to prove that it, indeed, was just a pot.

 

"I suppose, it *is* just a pot." She pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing. "But why in Naga's name did you wear a pot to homecoming?" She asked incredulously.

 

"W-Well... It's uh, a long story...? Ya see I... well..." He stammered, rolling the pot between his hands absently. He was flushed red, grasping at anything to say. He at least had the dignity to be embaressed about the offending apparell, it seems. Maribelle would be lying if she said it wasn't a little endearing. She hid her tugging smile behind her hand for a moment.

 

"Nevermind. What, pray tell, is your name?" She asks, removing her hand to reveal a gentler smile.

 

"Well, I'm Donnel." He said, relief flooding his face at the easy question.

 

"Donnel." The name was alien, but held a deep flavour to it that she couldn't quite place. "You may call me Maribelle. Pray tell, why are you out here?"

 

Donnel, finally done fidgeting with his pot, instead shuffled his feet instead. "Ya looked real sad and lonesome out here." He stopped shuffling and murmered, "And I saw what happened with Gaius." 

 

The mere mention of her abandonment for the drab excuse of a girl that was Panne, lit a fire under Maribelle. She seethed in anger once mpre, clenching her fists. 

 

"I thought Gaius was a gentleman, too-", she started.

"He usually is-", he interjected.

"-But then at a drop of a hat he left me out to dry!", she shot.

"He's quite nice-", he tried.

"I was his date! The LEAST he can do is just stay that way for the whole dance!", she retorted.

 

Maribelle scowled under her breath, turning from Donnel. They stood in silence for a while, Maribelle brewing and Donnel at a loss. The cold air clung to Maribelle as if a sheet, the chilly wind freezing an extra layer over her slin. She shivered underneath it all, crossing her arms. "Cold?" He drawled, "It's warm inside, ya know."

 

"I know!" She snapped back, sniffing. "I just... want to be alone."

 

"... I ain't the smartest, Maribelle, but you sure don't act like you wanna be alone." He offers an outstretched hand. "Yur gonna catch a cold out here like this, at least stay outta the elements an' such."

 

After a moment of awkward silence, Maribelle finds her own hand linking into Donnel's, moving without amy concious thought. He gently tugs her back inside like he was leading a horse to it's stable.

 

Donnel. She mouthes the name over the flood of music, washing over her in warm waves. The name tastes earthy and sweet. *Like mint.*, she decides. *Like a fresh mint leaf under the tongue*


End file.
